Health officials and AIDS activists gathered in Biloxi, Mississippi, on April 22 for an all-day conference to discuss the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Latino community, The Mississippi Press/GulfLive.com reports (gulflive.com, 4/23).
The conference, Latinos in Mississippi and HIV/AIDS, was a part of the Washington, DC-based Latino Commission on AIDS’ Deep South Project. It joined heath care and outreach workers, government officials, church leaders and service providers to address HIV in the Latino community.
Elaine Miller, director of case management and infection control for Mississippi’s Singing River Hospital System, said the hospital sees hundreds of Latinos each year, many with HIV.
The article reports that Latinos accounted for 19 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I think that it's OK to be angry. I am sometimes—it's natural—we are HIV positive. but I always try to not let myself stay there too long. Let yourself feel you are human. You should not beat yourself up about being angry."
